Authors:Maya H. Saidel Abstract: The sa’alik were poets who were expelled from their tribes and occupied the fringes of society in Pre-Islamic Arabia. The brooding poetry they composed as they roamed the desert sands in solitude presents a fascinating opportunity to explore the role of the environment in constructing vagabond identity. This paper analyzes Lamiyatt al-Arab by al-Shanfara and How I Met the Ghul by Ta’abatta Sharran in order to elucidate the nature of the sa’alik’s engagement with their arid environment. In the absence of the social and physical comforts of a tribe, the sa’alik sought to integrate themselves into an alternative web of existence. By examining themes such as kinship with desert creatures, mastery of extreme hunger, and vanquishment of the supernatural, it becomes apparent that desert imagery crucially isolates the sa’alik from society and brings them closer to the wilderness. Sa’alik identity is thus inextricably linked to a rejection of humanity and a discovery of belonging within the desert. PubDate: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:40:32 PDT
Authors:Verity C. Wray-Raabolle Abstract: Much scholarship has been dedicated to detailing the roles of women in the Odyssey, often regarding their power or lack thereof. Helen and Arete, as two high-standing queens of societies, provide an interesting case study into women’s roles in the story. This comparison project aims to open up new avenues of study for future classicists. An analysis of the interactions between these two women and their husbands and Odysseus in the original language reveals that the women wield power through their speech and stories. It is also clear that scholars have previously discounted the power of these women by characterizing them as inhuman. This article avoids discounting these women’s power by attributing it to superhuman status but appreciates it and its impact on the narrative. PubDate: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:40:27 PDT
Authors:Caitlin M. Panos Abstract: Although many scholars claim that the general function of lying in the Odyssey is to establish oneself as intellectually superior, this assertion fails to recognize the ethical lessons presented through situations with deception. In this paper, I analyze cases of Odysseus’ deceit in the Odyssey and compare these to his lie to Laertes in Book 24 to demonstrate the potential moral dangers associated with lying. Through analysis of the situational context of the lies, the content presented in each lie, and the consequences of the deceit, I argue that the lie to Laertes can be used as evidence that lying in the Odyssey does hold moral implications in addition to practical advantages. I take issue with scholars proposing that the function of lying in the Odyssey relates to one’s social prowess and does not communicate any ethical opinions about deceit. By analyzing Odysseus’ lie to Laertes in comparison to his previous lies, I illustrate that lying in the Odyssey can in fact hold moral implications, and that this lie specifically serves as a cautionary tale regarding the dangers of lying to vulnerable audiences. PubDate: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:40:23 PDT
Authors:Gabriel Gonzalez Abstract: While Odysseus is praised for fulfilling his homecoming duties, the individuals who helped him get there are often minimized Specifically, the positive impact of women on Odysseus homecoming is overlooked and is a source of confusion. As the role of women in the Odyssey is debated, Odysseus is depicted as hero bearing wit, intelligence, and nerve. After responding directly to a few prevalent interpretations of Penelope, I argue that Penelope is a character who is faithful and loyal to Odysseus and his estate while emphasizing Athena as the divine character who aligns the conditions for Odysseus return. This paper's response to prevalent interpretations of Penelope allow the argument to be placed into the greater context of scholarship on Penelope’s character. Through analyzing the text in its original Greek, I demonstrate that Odysseus’s homecoming is dependent on Penelope and Athena just as much as it depends on his own character. PubDate: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:40:16 PDT
Authors:Ian S. Wanger Abstract: The importance and social power of a character in the Odyssey can be defined by their dialogue. Characters who display tact and strategy when speaking to others are often much more successful in their goals than those who are blunt or careless. There are scenes wherein characters noticeably gain these skills, such as the conversation between Telemachus and Athena, as well as scenes where characters engage in rhetorical “combat,” seen in Calypso’s farewell to Odysseus. By examining the dialogue between characters in these scenes, we can see clearly how a character’s rhetorical strength directly correlates with their importance and role in the greater text. Beyond dialogue, this can be found in the repeated lines that introduce and carry conversations. How this formula is used in various points throughout the text, especially when characters use it within dialogue, indicates a character’s grasp of social interaction. By examining dialogue rather than narration, we can learn more about the social status of characters, which defines their narrative role. PubDate: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:40:11 PDT
Authors:Beatrice K. Mellsop Abstract: The Odyssey is a story exploring what it means to be a good man–and what happens to those who aren't. In this paper, I argue that ideal masculinity in the Odyssey is defined by restraint, self-control, and one's leadership and guardianship abilities. Most men in the Odyssey fall short of this ideal, and often suffer as a result. Only Nestor, king of Pylos, is able to meet this standard and act as a role model for Telemachus. By examining the usage of certain Greek words and phrases in the text, I explore the relationship between recklessness, lack of leadership, and subsequent suffering. I conclude that while manhood and masculinity were important in Homeric society, excessively masculine behavior is shown to be far more destructive than a lack of masculinity. PubDate: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:40:06 PDT
Authors:Eve Woogen Abstract: One of the recognized genres represented in the Qumran scrolls is that of wisdom texts which, like the wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible, draw upon literary and thematic elements of the older Near Eastern wisdom tradition. Primary characteristics of this genre include a focus on humanity’s place in creation, and teachings related to improvement through the pursuit of wisdom. Many of these elements are clearly present in the texts from Qumran known collectively as 4QInstruction (or Sapiential Work A). While these writings describe a secular rather than sectarian setting and follow a traditional instructional format, they also include distinctly eschatological themes similar to ones found in more explicitly sectarian documents and later apocalyptic works. These themes are smoothly linked with the more secular discussion of business and wealth through the use of financial terminology, specifically the presentation of spiritual fates as replacements for material inheritances. This use of terminology and mixture of wisdom. secular, and eschatological elements distinguishes 4QInstruction as a unique transition point between earlier works of the wisdom tradition and later apocalyptic and sectarian documents. PubDate: Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:00:43 PDT
Authors:Gwyneth J. Shanks Abstract: Since their initial discovery in the late 1940s, the Dead Sea Scrolls continue to ignite the imaginations of scholars and generate an extensive, and ever growing, amount of scholarship. While scholars have examined different components of both the site of Qumran and the scrolls in reference to purity, it is on the communal meal and the War Scroll that this article focuses. This article proposes a connection between the sectarian communal meal and their eschatology, based not upon previously established similar purity laws, but rather the parallel desire to combat mortality evident in the purity laws of the communal meal and the End of Days narrative in the War Scroll. It is through the lens of performance and the performative that this articles locates the desire to combat mortality in both the communal meal and the War Scroll. PubDate: Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:00:37 PDT
Authors:Daniel M. Picus Abstract: The retelling of the bible is a common method of biblical interpretation within the Dead Sea Scrolls library. Stories, events, ideas, and characters are re-imagined by the authors of texts who pay homage to what we consider the “canonical” biblical story. In the process, characters and stories are reinterpreted. This reinterpretation provides insight into a community’s understanding of itself, and of the roles that its members play. I am interested in the re-imagined women of Genesis that appear in the Genesis Apocryphon. I will compare both of them (Bitenosh and Sarai) to their counterparts in the book of Genesis, and analyze how they reflect the biblical material as well as differing attitudes towards women and wives that existed in the author’s community. Bitenosh, as the wife of Lamech, has almost no role in Genesis. Sarai, the wife of Abram, plays a significantly larger role—but the story related in the Apocryphon exists in Genesis in only a few verses (Gen. 12:10- 13). In the Genesis Apocryphon, both of these women appear in roles much expanded from their mention in Genesis. Bitenosh, for example, is not even named in the Torah. Sarai’s sojourn with Abram into Egypt is somewhat longer in the Genesis Apocryphon, and includes an expanded section of erotic love poetry inserted into the middle. I’m curious about how these different retellings reflect differing interpretations of Sarai and Bitenosh. Why are these women and stories singled out for detail' What does the erotic poetry in Sarai’s story signify' Even more importantly, why are Sarai and Bitenosh reinterpreted, and what is accomplished through this retelling' What does this tell us about the community that produced the Genesis Apocryphon' PubDate: Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:00:33 PDT
Authors:Grace K. Erny Abstract: The identification of the sectarians at Qumran with the Essenes, a group that Josephus and Philo characterized as rigorously ascetic, has led many scholars to conclude that the Qumran sectarians identified wealth with corruption and immorality and poverty with virtue. Some of these scholars further support their argument by pointing to several disparaging references to wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Archaeological evidence, however, can attest that the ideological relationship that the Qumran community had with wealth was much more complex. The industrial remains at Qumran indicate that the site probably manufactured many different products. It is also inaccurate to say that the inhabitants of Qumran participated in the thriving economy of the Judean region only enough to ensure their survival, for evidence of surplus wealth is also present at the site. The hoard of Tyrian tetradrachmas, multiple isolated coins, sherds of Nabatean fineware, a jar of precious oil, and multiple metal items are a few examples. In addition, a closer textual analysis of IQS and the Damascus Document reveals some of the positive, purifying connotations that wealth held for the Yahad. Indeed, in IQS, merging one’s wealth with that of the community’s is a high honor and the final step in becoming a sectarian. Among many Jews of the Second Temple Period, wealth could be used to help fulfill religious obligations: the hoard of Tyrian tetradrachmas and the treasures listed in the Copper Scroll have both been tentatively identified with the Temple tax, an institution described in Ordinances 4Q159 and 4Q513. In this paper, I will explore how the evidence of economic prosperity at Qumran can be squared with the references to wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls. What were the positive aspects of wealth for the members of the Yahad, and how could wealth be used for religious purposes' More specifically, what was the Yahad’s attitude towards and interpretation of the Temple taxes and sacrifices mentioned in the Hebrew Bible' PubDate: Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:00:27 PDT
Authors:Ethan Levin Abstract: In the beginning of the 5th century, Palestine saw an economic boom and an extensive cultural shift due to the Christianization of the Roman empire. Intermingling between Jews and Gentiles must have been at an all time high in the prospering cities of Palestine, so to cordon off the Jew from the Christianized world, the Palestinian rabbis turned towards the polemical tools of intermarriage and ethnicity. The legal restriction of intermarriage with Gentiles on the grounds of their abhorrent, yet enticing, sacreligious practices served as a concrete barrier to apostasy codified in Jewish practice. This legal thought has a long tradition, from Deuteronomy 7 to the Second Temple Period. The Yerushalmi subverts the Second Temple period text Jubilees understanding of intermarriage to present a view on intermarriage that is synonymous with the one found in Genesis Rabbah 80, in which intermarriage is banned on moral-religious grounds and zealotry is frowned upon. Classifying themselves as an ethno-religious group complicates the nature of identification with Judaism in Late Antiquity. A Jew would remain a Jew even if that Jew intermarried and apostatized: Judaism is marked not just by practice, but also by ethnicity. PubDate: Wed, 06 May 2020 14:05:38 PDT
Authors:Charlotte Houghton Abstract: Since ancient times, the Odyssey has been a source of inspiration for writers and artists. One especially interesting piece of fiction based on the Homeric epic is Lucian’s True History, written in the second century CE. As a first person narrative, Lucian recounts his fantastical adventures, rivalling Odysseus in strangeness, but with one major caveat: it is all a lie, as he tells his readers at the outset (True History, 1.2). In his parodic take on the Odyssey, Lucian interacts with numerous strange people and creatures; most important for this paper are the Moon-men. This paper focuses on the role that ideas of xenia, or hospitality, plays in the construction of civility, and how Lucian, in his interactions with the Moon-men, uses the Odyssean framework of guesting to show that being Greek, being civilized, is not innate, but a series of rituals that can be learned, and that anyone can become civilized. I focus specifically on the rituals of reception and the giving of parting gifts, the bookends of hospitality rituals. In the Odyssey, these expectations are illustrated in Pylos and Sparta as Telemachus learns from Nestor and Menelaus respectively, as well as with the Phaeacians when they host Odysseus. Polyphemus, on the contrary, often ignores the rituals, since he is seen as living outside the reach of Greek civilization. In the True History, I examine similar scenes with the Moon-men, whom Lucian presents as more complicated--physically very different from the Greek protagonists, but still able to learn Greek behavior, become civilized. The article looks at how Lucian blurs the distinctions that the Odyssey establishes between people who are Greek, people who are civilized, and those who exist outside that realm. PubDate: Wed, 06 May 2020 14:05:28 PDT
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